Water Use Efficiency Program Annual Report Fiscal Year 2004-05

2005·4 MB·English

by  Santa Clara Valley Water District. Water Use Efficiency Program.

Santa Clara Valley Water DiStriCt
Water Use efficiency Program
AnnuAl RepoRt
fiscAl yeAR 2004-2005

Our Mission
the mission of the District is a healthy, safe, and enhanced
quality of living in Santa Clara County through watershed
stewardship and comprehensive management of water
resources in a practical, cost-effective, and environmentally
sensitive manner.
5750 Almaden expressway, san Jose, cA 95118 • [phone]
www.valleywater.org
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About the santa clara Valley Water District
the Santa Clara Valley Water District is the
primary water resources agency for Santa
Clara County, California. it acts not only
as the county’s water wholesaler, but also as its
flood protection agency and is the steward for
its streams and creeks, underground aquifers and
District-built reservoirs.
as the county’s water wholesaler, the Water
District ensures there is enough clean, safe water
for homes, businesses and agriculture. as the
agency responsible for local flood protection, the
Water District works diligently to protect Santa
Clara Valley residents and businesses from the
devastating effects of flooding.
Our stream stewardship responsibilities include creek restoration and wildlife habitat projects,
pollution prevention efforts and a commitment to natural flood protection.
santa clara Valley Water District
Board of Directors
Rosemary Kamei District 
Joe Judge District 2
Richard p. santos District 3
larry Wilson District 4
Gregory A. Zlotnick District 5
tony estremera at large
sig sanchez at large
front row, seated (from left to right): Sig Sanchez,
rosemary Kamei, Gregory Zlotnick
Back row, standing (from left to right): Joe Judge,
tony estremera, larry Wilson, richard Santos
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from the office of the ceo
his year the District has been focusing on the “value of water” — looking
t
at the true value of water and the far reaching impacts of water use.
This is especially significant for the Water Use Efficiency Program,
which strives to educate the public about using this most valuable of
resources wisely and efficiently. This is not an easy task, particularly in years of above-average
rainfall, as we’ve seen this year. However, when you examine the true value of water — and how
it relates to energy — it quickly becomes clear that using water efficiently is essential year ‘round,
regardless of reservoir and underground aquifer levels. Water Use Efficiency at the District refers
to actions and activities that lead to sustainable or renewable uses of water, and includes water
conservation, water recycling and desalination.
With this in mind, the Water Use Efficiency (WUE) Unit continued moving forward with its
innovative water conservation program and helped to expand countywide recycled water use,
reducing current water use by an estimated 46,000 acre-feet of water in FY 04-05. This is a notable
achievement, not only because it eases the demand on water supply, but also because of a reduction
in energy demand and benefits to air quality. In 2005, the WUE Unit analyzed the impacts of water
conservation and recycling programs and estimated the energy savings from these programs to
be more than 196 million kWh for FY 04-05 alone; cumulative energy savings are estimated to be
more than 1.3 billion kWh from FY 92 - FY 05, the time span during which these programs have
been operational. For FY 04-05, emissions of over 89 million kg of carbon dioxide were avoided
due to the District’s water conservation and water recycling programs. For FY 91-92 through FY
04-05, the emissions of over 1.2 billion kg of carbon dioxide were avoided due to the District’s water
conservation and water recycling programs.
The District’s long-term water supply planning combines integrated water resources planning
with watershed stewardship. The District’s 2005 Urban Water Management Plan concludes
that the District cannot meet demands through 2030 without maximizing opportunities for
water conservation. Demand with conservation programs in place in 2030 is projected to be
approximately 450,000 acre-feet. Using 1992 as a baseline, the county will be permanently
conserving an estimated 100,000 acre-feet per year by the year 2030. In sum, water conservation
will help to meet nearly 20% of the community’s water demand, making it a key part of the
District’s water supply portfolio. The 2005 Urban Water Management Plan also states that recycled
water has become an important additional source of supply and its role in offsetting demand for
potable water will be more significant in the future. Recycled water projects provide a water
supply source that is largely independent of weather patterns. Ensuring that the county’s water
supply comes from a variety of sources enables the District to maintain maximum reliability and
flexibility in providing for its residents’ water needs.
Understanding the true value of water and using it wisely to meet the needs of this growing
community will continue to be a goal of the District in the years ahead.
Stanley M. Williams
Chief Executive Officer, Santa Clara Valley Water District
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contents
ii About the santa clara Valley 8 Water conservation 29 Water Recycling and
Water District
Desalination
iii from the ceo 9 Water Conservation in the Home
1 introduction 3 Water Conservation in Business 32 South Bay Water recycling Program
5 the energy savings- 8 Water Use efficiency in agriculture 37 Palo alto recycled Water
Water savings link 20 education and Outreach 38 Sunnyvale recycled Water
7 calendar of events 23 Publications 39 South County recycled Water
24 Grants and Cost-sharing 4 Bay area regional Desalination
agreements Project
26 Studies and research 43 regional Brackish Water
Desalination Project
27 Future Projects
46 education and Outreach
46 Grants and Cost-sharing agreements
47 Studies and research
Water utility enterprise
Walt Wadlow Chief Operating Officer
Water supply Management Division
Keith Whitman Deputy Operating Officer
Melanie Richardson assistant Operating Officer
Water use efficiency unit staff
Hossein Ashktorab Unit Manager
shicha chander assistant engineer ii
Jerry De la piedra Senior Water Conservation Specialist
Kevin Galvin Water Conservation Specialist i
pam John Senior Civil engineer
Jeannine larabee Water Conservation Specialist i
Karen Morvay Water Conservation Specialist ii
the Water Use efficiency Unit of the Santa Clara Valley
Alice Ringer Program administrator
Water District.
Robert siegfried assistant engineer ii agricultural
toni Vye Senior Office Specialist
Ray Wong associate engineer (Civil)
stanley Zhu Senior Civil engineer
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WAteR use efficiency:
conseRVAtion, RecyclinG & DesAlinAtion
summary
the water conservation, recycling and desalination programs in the Santa Clara Valley Water
District’s (District) Water Use efficiency Unit (WUe) reduce demand placed on existing water
supplies, helping to defer the cost and environmental impact of developing additional supplies.
these programs also protect the South Bay salt march habitat by reducing freshwater effluent
released from wastewater treatment facilities.
these programs also assist the District in meeting its Board ends Policy on water reliability, water
conservation and water recycling. the District’s policies, in conjunction with the District’s integrated
Water resources Plan (iWrP) and 2005 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP), emphasize
the need for its water supply to be reliable to meet future demands, for water recycling to be
expanded within Santa Clara County in partnership with the community, and that the District has
a variety of water supply sources.
a number of the District’s Water Use efficiency Unit activities and programs have improved
the reliability of District supplies and reduced the risk of shortages during drought periods.
important in this list of programs are the District’s water conservation program and the recycled
water program. together, conservation and water recycling accounted for 46,000 acre-feet
(aF) of water saving per year. With the projected growth in this area, their roles in offsetting
demand for potable water will be even more significant in the future.
a new activity, desalination, was included as a program within the WUe Unit at the direction
of the District’s CeO two years ago. Staff is evaluating the feasibility of desalination (bay/
ocean/brackish) as part of both regional and local efforts. the current desalination technology

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is very similar to the technology used to lower salts in advanced treatment of recycled water.
recycled water has become an important additional source of supply and perhaps cost-effective
desalinated water may be too. Both recycled water and desalinated water will be available
supplies when all other conventional supplies are depleted.
Some of the District‘s programs—such as storing water locally or outside the county (banking)
and establishing agreements to buy or sell water to other agencies (transfers)— help increase
District water supplies in years of shortage, as do District programs aimed at maintaining and
maximizing local groundwater storage. recycled water projects provide a water supply source
that is largely independent of weather patterns and is considered an all-weather source. a
renewed focus on advanced treated recycled water is under consideration for groundwater
recharge and increasing stream flows, thereby enhancing the District’s conjunctive water
management.
the District maintains that water use efficiency programs, such as water conservation
and recycling, be maximized because they are key strategies to minimize overall
demand.
this fourth annual report for the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Water Use efficiency Unit
(WUe) provides an overview of achievements in Fiscal year 04-05, and a look at current
water use efficiency programs, including water conservation, water recycling and desalination.
the report also looks at new and future projects and partnerships.
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The District maintains the Santa Clara Valley Water District has been, and continues to be, a
that water use efficiency
leader in water use efficiency, with programs that are innovative and
programs, such as
water conservation and comprehensive in scope. in Fy 04-05, these water conservation and water
recycling, be maximized
recycling programs helped save the District 46,000 acre-feet of water.
because they are key
strategies to minimize
this fiscal year was a successful one for developing partnerships. as an
overall demand.
example, the Water Softener replacement rebate Program, a regional
effort between the District, San Benito County Water District (SBCWD), and South County
regional Wastewater authority (SCrWa), is under way. Furthermore, the District and San Benito
County Water District are joint recipients of $245,000 in Proposition 50 grants to conduct a
$490,000 brackish water feasibility study in the Pajaro river basin.
in addition to the many water conservation programs already in place, several new programs
were launched this year, and numerous others were revised and improved. On the residential
conservation side, the residential Clothes Washer rebate Program was redesigned and improved.
this grant-funded regional effort provides residents with either a $00 or $50 rebate for a
high-efficiency clothes washer (the higher the efficiency of the machine, the higher the rebate).
On the Commercial, industrial and institutional (Cii) conservation side, the Cii Water Use Survey
Program, the Commercial High-efficiency toilet installation Program, and the High-efficiency
Medical equipment rebate Program were launched this fiscal year.
the GardenSoft CD-rOM software is also a new addition to the water conservation program.
this interactive CD-rOM showcases more than ,000 native, drought-tolerant and water-efficient
plants, and features the District’s landscape design brochure “rules of thumb for Water-Wise
Gardening.” through features such as “Garden tours” and “Garden Gallery,” users can view
plants in beautiful, well-established gardens and click on them to learn about each plant’s
water, sun and soil requirements.
the District was honored to be the recipient of several awards this
year:
• the District was given the acterra Business environmental
award’s susanne Wilson Award for pollution prevention and
resource conservation in the special projects category for its
Water Softener rebate Program. this pilot program, which
began in november 2003 and concluded in September 2004,
provided 400 residents with a rebate of $50 each for the
replacement of their old water softener system with a newer, Pam John, Shicha Chander, Director larry
Wilson and ray Wong with the acterra
more efficient system.
Business environmental award.
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• the District was selected as one of the finalists for the prestigious 2005
clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for excellence, sponsored by the
association of California Water agencies for the Water Softener rebate
Pilot Program. this award recognizes outstanding achievements by public
water agencies.
• the District’s Water-efficient Demonstration Garden
design received a Merit Award in the analysis,
research Planning and Communication category of
the annual awards competition organized by the northern California
Chapter of the american Society of landscape architects. this is quite
an honor, and reflects recognition by a panel of professional landscape
architects, urban designers, University of California professors and an
environmental artist of the caliber of the work.
Fiscal year 04-05 was another successful year for bring-
ing in grant revenue to the District. Grants totaling
$3.48 million were awarded to the District from the
State of California Department of Water resources
Proposition 50 grant funding. Grant funding recom-
mendations for the District included:
• Chapter 6 (desalination) funding recommendations
(includes entire regional share): $494,756
• Chapter 7 (recycling) funding recommendations
(includes entire regional share): $2.23 Million
• Chapter 7 (water use efficiency) funding recommen-
dations (District funding amount only): $757,250
the District received a total of $3,482,006 for these sections of the proposition 50 grant
(including regional portions). in addition, the Wue unit entered into cost-sharing
agreements with several regional and local agencies totaling nearly $700,000 for a
variety of water use efficiency programs.
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A closer look:
the energy savings – Water savings link
this year we conducted an in-depth
energy savings due to the District’s analysis of the impact of our water
Water conservation programs use efficiency programs on water sav-
ings, energy savings and air quality.
Cumulative total savings for Fy 92-93 through Fy 04-05:
1,330,000,000 kWh* While the primary goal of water use
efficiency programs is to use water
200
n) more efficiently, thereby increasing
o
milli150 water supply reliability, ancillary
h (100 benefits include energy savings and
W
reduced emissions of greenhouse gases,
k
50
reactive organic gases,
0
92 - 93 - 94 - 95 - 96 - 97 - 98- 99- 00- 01- 02- 03- 04- and particulates (energy
93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05
FiSCal year production generates air
* energy savings data obtained from the Pacific institute’s emissions; a reduction in
“Water to air Model” using District-specific water supply
data energy production leads
to a reduction in air emis-
sions).
energy savings due to the District’s Water conservation programs reduce
Water Recycling programs
energy consumption and air emissions
through two routes:
10 Cumulative total savings for Fy 98-99 through Fy 04-05:
34,000,000 kWh*
n) • Decreasing end-use demand for hot
o
milli water, and
( 5

h • reducing water flow upstream and
W
k downstream from the point of end-
0
use.
98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05
FiSCal year
Water recycling programs lead to
* energy savings data obtained from the Pacific institute’s
“Water to air Model” using District-specific water supply energy savings and air emission reduc-
data
tions through decreasing water flow
upstream and downstream from the
Energy savings resulting from the District’s water conser-
point of end-use.
vation and water recycling programs are estimated to be
over 196 million kWh for FY 04-05 (only) and over 1.36
to determine the energy savings from
billion kWh for FY 91-92 through FY 04-05.
reducing end-use demand for hot water,
5